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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345196">Sand and Bone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant'>virdant</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Basic is English, Colonization, Food, Gen, Language, Planet Tatooine (Star Wars), Sith, Sith Shenanigans (Star Wars), So what does it mean that the whole galaxy speaks English?, dark side of the force</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:01:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>497</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345196</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When the Sith came, they came with smiles, because they knew you did not expect malice, and they had only malice. When the Sith came, they came with empty coffers, because they had never intended to trade with you, only to strip your land of its riches and take it with them. When the Sith came, they came with fire and brimstone, because a burnt wasteland was one that would never raise arms in battle against them.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>The colonized, and the colonizers.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sand and Bone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/powerofvoid/gifts">powerofvoid</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>thanks to my salty pals who inspire me, daily, to write.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This is your history.</p><p>When the Sith came, they tore the land from your grasp and stripped the flesh from your bones. They came with gilded smiles and empty promises. They promised peace and prosperity. They offered wealth and power. They did not say that their promises were for themselves, they did not say their offers were never for you to take.</p><p>When the Sith came, they declared your land <i>terra nullius</i>, even though you had lived on it for generations and generations. When the Sith came, they smiled and said that there was more than enough for you, and everybody else that they would subjugate. When the Sith came—</p><p>They said your homeland was free for the taking, and watched as the galaxy descended on it. They said it was worth nothing to you, but everything to others, and they smiled and smiled as your homeland was torn from your grasp.</p><p>When the Sith came, they came with smiles, because they knew you did not expect malice, and they had only malice. When the Sith came, they came with empty coffers, because they had never intended to trade with you, only to strip your land of its riches and take it with them. When the Sith came, they came with fire and brimstone, because a burnt wasteland was one that would never raise arms in battle against them.</p><p>They took the best and brightest among you and slaughtered them. They took the strongest and sturdiest among you and set them to work in their fields. They took and they took: your land, your children, your tongue.</p><p>They stripped your flesh from your bones: everything that made you a person, they took. Your clothing, your food, your language. They ground it beneath their feet, scattered the ashes across the galaxy. You’ve lost it all.</p><p>Wear real clothes, they sneered. Eat real food. Speak a real language.</p><p>You clothed yourself in their attire. You swallowed down every bite of the food they gave you. And you swallowed down your tongue until it shriveled in your mouth and your voice disappeared.</p><p>They filled your planet with their figureheads. They filled your fields with their food. And they filled your tongue with their words.</p><p>Tatooine, they said, belongs to those strong enough to take it, and they watched and laughed as the Hutts made their home on your ancestral lands. Tatooine, they said, is as barren as a desert, and they watched and laughed as your fields were ground to dust. Tatooine, they said, is a savage land, and they took your words and replaced it with Basic instead.</p><p>And now you are here, and there are others on your land, the fields are barren as the vaporators drain what little water remains, and everybody speaks Basic. You are here, and the outsiders come with gilded smiles and empty promises. You are here, and the future lies before you, and you have a choice to make.</p><p>You can choose, now.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>at this point i no longer keep my own list of prompts other people keep a list for me and then i write what i want from the prompt. this is a prompt from void, who said "if basic is english, and the reason we speak english (globally) is due to colonization, then is Basic from the Sith?" and then combined it with the idea that tatooine was declared terra nullius (no man's land) as a way to justify colonization. then it turned out that i had a lot of feelings about colonization.</p><p>here's how you can find me:</p><ul>

<li>find me in salt flats</li> 
<li>Follow me on twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/virdant/">@virdant</a>
</li>
<li><a href="https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1323153610214047746">Like &amp; retweet on twitter</a></li>
  <li>Comment and kudo below</li>
</ul></blockquote></div></div>
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